Geography Trivia Questions And Answers - Split into USA and World

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These unique geography trivia questions and answers are divided into US and world topics. Do you know your capitals, rivers, borders, and reefs? What about the highest mountains and lowest seas?

Find out how much you really know with these trivia facts…

How to play trivia with these geography questions and answers

There are many ways to use these questions to play a game of trivia by yourself or test your knowledge, or play a game with friends, with your family, in a classroom, and more.

You can nominate someone to read the questions from this page, with each player taking a turn to answer a question.

Or you can print out these questions and cut them into strips. Put the strips into a bowl, and give each person a turn to choose a strip and ask a question to the group. The first one to give the correct answer wins a point!

Are you ready to start playing? I thought so!

Get fun geography games and activities

If you love games about geography, then here are three that will keep you on your toes:

Continent I Spy Game – Easy

This game is perfect for very young children. Let them find and count how many of each continent they can find in this mix. The continents are all brightly colored to help them along. If you want a more challenging I Spy for older children, check out the medium level.

Continent I Spy Game – Medium

See how many you can find of each continent – but now all the continents are mixed up and one color (black). This game is a great way to learn about all the continents, how to spell them, and what shapes they come in.

Countries and Continents Game – Difficult

Put on a timer and list ALL the countries you can from each continent. This game is a difficult one – and the player with the most correctly listed countries wins! Play it on your own or in a group. It’s great fun for anyone of any age!

US geography trivia questions and answers

Question: Which state has the fewest counties?

Answer: Delaware. It has 3 counties, namely New Castle, Kent, and Sussex

Question: Which state is bordered by Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New York, and Long Island Sound?

Answer: Connecticut

Question: Which US territory was won in a 30-minute bloodless standoff between a US ship and the Spanish living on the island in 1898?

Answer: Guam. The US ship arrived to battle it out with the Spaniards living there. The Spaniards didn’t know they were 2 months into a war with the US and welcomed the US ship. When given 30 minutes to surrender, the Spaniards did so and Guam became a US territory before the US ship sailed off.

Question: Which US state was bought from Russia in 1867?

Answer: Alaska

Question: Which state has rivers forming its complete east and west borders?

Answer: Iowa

Question: In the US, is a ‘bayou’ a harbor, a sailing ship, or a body of water?

Answer: A body of water. A bayou is usually a slow-moving stream or marshy wetland in a flat area

Question: What’s the third-largest US state?

Answer: California

Question: Is the Kentucky Bend in the extreme northwestern or southwestern corner of Kentucky?

Answer: Southwestern. It belongs to Kentucky but is surrounded by the states of Tennessee and Missouri

Question: Alabama is known as the Yellowhammer State, Heart of Dixie, and the Cotton State. What is a Yellowhammer?

Answer: The state bird. It’s the regional name for the northern flicker, a member of the woodpecker family

Question: Which US city has the most people living in it?

Answer: New York City

Question: Florida Reef is the only living coral barrier reef in the continental United States. Is it the first-, second- or third-largest coral barrier reef system in the world?

Answer: The Florida Reef is the third-largest in the world, after the Great Barrier Reef and Belize Barrier Reef

Question: In which state was the historic city of Tombstone, where the O.K. Corral gunfight took place between the Cowboys and lawmen?

Answer: Arizona

Question: What state is called ‘The First State’?

Answer: Delaware. On 7 December 1787, it was the first state to ratify the United States Constitution

Question: What’s the newest US state?

Answer: Hawaii – it joined the US in 1959

Question: Idaho follows Mountain Time, but what time does the Idaho Panhandle north of Salmon River observe?

Answer: Pacific time

Question: Kansas is the same distance (equidistant) from which 2 oceans?

Answer: The Pacific and Atlantic oceans

Question: Georgia has been in a dispute about state borders with which state since the 19th century?

Answer: Tennessee. Georgia claims that its border was made 1 mile (1.6 km) further south than it should have been, giving Georgia no access to water from the Tennessee River

Question: Wyoming, Utah and which state have their borders set by boundary lines and no natural features?

Answer: Colorado. It has 697 boundary markers and 697 straight boundary lines

Question: What was the temporary US capital from 1790 to 1800?

Answer: Philadelphia – it was made the capital while Washington D.C was being built

Question: Which mountain range in eastern North America is about 480 million years old?

Answer: The Appalachian Mountains, also called the Appalachians

Question: What’s the capital of Wyoming?

Answer: Cheyenne

Question: After the Great Flood of 1844, people in Kaskaskia moved their town south. The original Kaskaskia became an island surrounded by which river?

Answer: The Mississippi River

Question: What makes the place of the Four Corners Monument unique?

Answer: It’s the only point in the United States shared by 4 states, namely New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and Arizona

Question: What’s the proper name for The Glades in West Virginia?

Answer: Cranberry Glades

Question: ‘Alaska’ was named after the Aleut word ‘Alyeska’. What does Alyeska mean?

Answer: The Great Land

Question: What’s the only island state in the US?

Answer: Hawaii – it has 132 islands in total

Question: What’s the capital of Louisiana?

Answer: Baton Rouge

Question: On average, how many days a year does Illinois have thunderstorms?

Answer: 51 days a year, which is above average for the United States

Question: Which National Forest was created across 5 counties in Arkansas by President Roosevelt in 1908?

Answer: The Ozark National Forest. It preserved 917,944 acres (3,714.79 square km). It’s now the Ozark-St. Francis National Forest spanning 1,159,801 acres (4,693.55 square km)

Question: Britton Hill is the highest point in Florida at 345 feet (105 m) above sea level, but it’s also the lowest what?

Answer: Britton Hill is the lowest highpoint in any state in the U.S.

Question: What’s the name of the official river of Indiana? (It’s also the longest free-flowing river east of the Mississippi.)

Answer: The Wabash River

World geography trivia questions and answers

Question: Do more people live in the northern or southern hemisphere?

Answer: The Northern Hemisphere by far (it has 90% of all humans there)

Question: What’s the capital city of Australia?

Answer: Canberra

Question: What’s the name of the fake English town that showed on Google Maps and Google Earth in 2008?

Answer: Argleton

Question: What’s the highest mountain in Africa called?

Answer: Mount Kilimanjaro – it’s 19,341 feet (5,895 metres) above sea level

Question: What does a cartographer do?

Answer: Makes maps

Question: Where is the world’s longest road tunnel?

Answer: Norway. It’s 15 miles (24.5 km) long and cost about $110 million to build!

Question: Which coral reef did Darwin call the ‘most remarkable reef in the West Indies’ in 1842?

Answer: The Belize Barrier Reef, which is the second-largest coral reef system in the world

Question: In which direction do latitude lines run on a globe?

Answer: Left to right

Question: What is Egypt’s formal name?

Answer: Arab Republic of Egypt

Question: How many time zones does France use, with its international territories?

Answer: 12 time zones – the highest in the world

Question: Which historical country was the first to put north at the top and south at the bottom of a map?

Answer: Korea

Question: What do you call feathery clouds that are mainly ice crystals?

Answer: Cirrus clouds

Question: What’s the smallest country on Earth?

Answer: The Vatican City

Question: What’s the capital of Jamaica?

Answer: Kingston

Question: What was the only country to become independent from Yugoslavia in 1991 without any bloodshed?

Answer: North Macedonia

Question: How many countries are in Europe?

Answer: 44

Question: Which country has the most natural lakes?

Answer: Canada – it has more than half of all natural lakes

Question: What’s the world’s largest island?

Answer: Greenland with 836,330 square miles (2,166,086 square km) of surface area

Question: Which continent sits in all four hemispheres?

Answer: Africa

Question: What’s the capital of Norway?

Answer: Oslo

Question: What do you call a mountain that usually rises quickly from the sea floor but never reaches the water’s surface?

Answer: A seamount. They are most often formed from extinct volcanoes and we’ve found 14,500 so far

Question: Which country is called the eighth continent for its biology?

Answer: Madagascar! This island off Africa is the largest micro-continent

Question: How many time zones does Russia have?

Answer: 11

Question: What is the world’s largest hot desert?

Answer: The Sahara Desert in Egypt

Question: What’s the lowest point in Asia?

Answer The Dead Sea

Question: What is Europe named after?

Answer: A princess! Europa was the name of a princess in Greek mythology

Question: What’s the capital of Portugal?

Answer: Lisbon

Conclusion

If you want some world maps to color in or for lessons, then you’ll find a range of world maps and globes to download for free by clicking HERE.

And if you still want to get those geography games, we’ve got Continent I Spy Easy and Medium, plus the Continents and Countries game for everyone.

I hope you’ve enjoyed these geography trivia questions!

Geography Trivia Questions and Answers – Split into US and World Geography Trivia